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www.QV500.com - Ferrari 360 Part 9: 360 GT - 2002 FIA GT Championship |
 001, 2002 Magny Cours 3 Hours |
Having secured a historic brace of championships in 2001's FIA GT series, JMB Competition and Christian Pescatori must have been confident of a repeat performance in 2002. With improvements coming directly from Ferrari and a squad of four cars normally contesting every round, the French team would start joint favourites with the crack Freisinger Porsche's. Things began well as despite finishing second on the track at Magny Cours, Pescatori and Montermini were eventually handed the win after Ortelli's Freisinger Porsche was disqualified, the scrutineers finding he had been running an oversized fuel tank. |
| Another N-GT class victory at Silverstone re-affirmed the number 50 Ferrari drivers as serious title protagonists, Ortelli's co-driver, Amorim, spinning under intense pressure from Montermini in the closing hour. However, at Brno it was Montermini's turn to spin late on when challenging Ortelli's new team mate, Marc Lieb, for the lead. He recovered to finish a creditable second in class though and was well inside the top ten with eighth overall. N-GT second followed at Jarama which was an especially good result considering Pescatori's slow start after a dismal qualifying session. Bertolini & Garbagnati had their best peformance of the year at Anderstorp in Sweden, this pairing finshing second in class although they were never able to match the searing pace of Ortelli who had now all but caught Pescatori and Montermini in the standings after his third straight victory. But despite Ortelli's Freisinger Porsche retiring early at Oschersleben for Round 6, the lead Ferrari drivers were unable to capitalise, both seemingly miles off the pace all weekend. With the title front-runners out of the reckoning, the Wolff / Peter Autorlando Porsche won, Bertolini and Garbagnati coming home third in class to consolidate their equal fourth position in the standings. Porsche were expected to and did dominate the FIA GT Champiosnhip's showpiece event, Spa Francorchamps' 24 Hour race. But despite not winning, JMB recorded what remains one of the Ferrari 360's finest individual results. |
 007, 2002 Silverstone 3 Hours |
Pescatori, Montermini, Garbagnati and Bertolini took their number 50 car to fourth overall and second in the N-GT class, a fine result after 24 hours of tortuous racing. Scuderia Sant Ambrous also contested this important event and won the GTN class in their 360 that, although to the same spec as JMB's cars, was entered in the National GT class to avoid penalising FIA-series cars. Finishing 10th, this would have been good enough for sixth in the N-GT class. Round 8 at Enna saw the Ferrari drivers slip further behind Ortelli (who won at Spa), Freisinger finishing one-two as JMB strategically switched driver pairings. |
| Donington saw no less than six 360 GT's present, Ortelli winning again after the early stages had been dominated by British Championship contenders, Veloqx Motorsport, who had turned up with their two new FIA-spec 360's. In the hands of Sugden and Kirkaldy, Veloqx's 360 was the fastest N-GT car in the race before being forced to retire with an engine failure (albeit after better pit strategy had seen the Freisinger Porsche's go through). Ex-Ferrari F1 driver, Ivan Capelli and Jamie Davies retired the second Veloqx entry after losing drive in the final hour. Pescatori and Bertolini were a distant third while Montermini also retired, this time with a broken gearbox. Ortelli managed to clinch the championship in Britain with one round still to go, JMB's drivers nevertheless occupying second, third, fourth and equal fifth positions in the standings. 2002's finale was held at Estoril, JMB and Veloqx gunning for victory but a last hurrah was not to go the Ferrari's way, Ortelli and his latest factory-supplied co-driver, Saascha Maassen, blitzing the entire field in what was the most dominant performance of the year. Lapping the entire N-GT field, including the second-placed Cirtek GT3, Ortelli capped what had been a stunning season for Porsche with eight N-GT class wins going to the German manufacturer, seven thanks to Ortelli and Freisinger. But JMB could be satisfied with taking the team award, securing second through fifth positions in the drivers league itself having been no mean feat. |
| Rd. | Race | Drivers | Entrant | Chassis | Overall | N GT |
| 1 | Magny Cours | Pescatori / Montermini | JMB Racing | 007 | 8th | 1st |
| Garbagnati / Bertolini | JMB Racing | 002 | 10th | 3rd | ||
| Gianni / Giraudi | JMB Racing | 000 | 11th | 4th | ||
| Pregliasco / Kutemann Alexander |
JMB Racing | 001 | 13th |
6th |
||
| 2 | Silverstone | Pescatori / Montermini | JMB Racing | 007 | 9th | 1st |
| Garbagnati / Bertolini | JMB Racing | 002 | 14th | 3rd | ||
| Pregliasco / Lambertini Alexander |
JMB Racing | 001 | 17th | 6th | ||
| Gianni / Giraudi | JMB Racing | 000 | DNS | - | ||
| 3 | Brno | Pescatori / Montermini | JMB Racing | 007 | 8th | 2nd |
| Pregliasco / Lambertini Alexander |
JMB Racing | 001 | 11th | 5th | ||
| Garbagnati / Bertolini | JMB Racing | 002 | DNF | - | ||
| 4 | Jarama | Pescatori / Montermini | JMB Racing | 007 | 10th | 2nd |
| Garbagnati / Bertolini | JMB Racing | 002 | 12th | 4th | ||
| Gianni / Giraudi | JMB Racing | 000 | DNF | - | ||
| Pregliasco / Alexander | JMB Racing | 001 | DNF | - | ||
| 5 | Anderstorp | Garbagnati / Bertolini | JMB Racing | 002 | 10th | 2nd |
| Pescatori / Montermini | JMB Racing | 007 | 13th | 4th | ||
| Kutemann / Alexander | JMB Racing | 001 | 22nd | 12th | ||
| Gianni / Ring | JMB Racing | 000 | 24th | 13th | ||
| 6 | Oschersleben | Garbagnati / Bertolini | JMB Racing | 002 | 10th | 3rd |
| Pescatori / Montermini | JMB Racing | 007 | 15th | 7th | ||
| Pregliasco / Kutemann Alexander |
JMB Racing | 001 | 16th | 8th | ||
| Gianni / Belloc | JMB Racing | 000 | DNF | - | ||
| 7 | Spa 24 Hours | Pescatori / Montermini Garbagnati / Bertolini |
JMB Racing | 007 | 4th | 2nd |
| Caffi / Chiesa / Moncini 'Yah-Man' |
Scuderia Sant Ambrous | 010 | 10th | 1st* | ||
| Kutemann / Alexander Earle / Horion |
JMB Racing | 001 | DNF | - | ||
| Manfredini / Pregliasco | JMB Racing | 000 | DNF | - | ||
| 8 | Enna-Pergusa | Montermini / Alexander | JMB Racing | 002 | 10th | 3rd |
| Pescatori / Bertolini | JMB Racing | 007 | 11th | 4th | ||
| Garbagnati / Gianni | JMB Racing | 000 | 16th | 8th | ||
| Pregliasco / Kutemann | JMB Racing | 001 | 17th | 9th | ||
| 9 | Donington | Pescatori / Bertolini | JMB Racing | 007 | 8th | 3rd |
| Pregliasco / Kutemann | JMB Racing | 001 | 13th | 7th | ||
| Capelli / Davies | Veloqx Motorsport | ? | 18th | 12th | ||
| Kirkaldy / Sugden | Veloqx Motorsport | ? | DNF | - | ||
| Montermini / Alexander | JMB Racing | 002 | DNF | - | ||
| Garbagnati / Gianni | JMB Racing | 000 | DNF | - | ||
| 10 | Estoril | Kirkaldy / Sugden | Veloqx Motorsport | ? | 10th | 3rd |
| Pescatori / Bertolini | JMB Racing | 007 | 11th | 4th | ||
| Montermini / Garbagnati | JMB Racing | 002 | 19th | 9th | ||
| Capelli / Davies | Veloqx Motorsport | ? | DNF | - | ||
| Gianni / Alexander | JMB Racing | 000 | DNF | - |
 002, 2002 Enna-Pergusa 3 Hours |